... any memories welcome.
Our first trip to the Old Den was a year or so after there'd been a Panorama documentary about them and their tactics for ambushing away supporters. Very few clubs took many down there but we had approaching a thousand. We drove down and got to the area around the stadium to find there were TV cameras filming. The Millwall fans were, of course, acting up and performing like circus seals so we had a few confrontations before we even got in.
For some reason, which I don't remember, we ended up in the seats near the end we attacked in the second half. There were Sunderland all over the ground and fights breaking out everywhere particularly at half time. They never got the better of the lads in our end who were mainly Vauxies and Seaburn lads but it wasn't a pleasant experience.
We didn't particularly hide who we were, as the seats were generally safe in those days, but it all kicked off, in the second half, when Wayne Entwistle crashed in a goal, the only one of the game, and all the pockets of Sunderland went up. A few punches were thrown and we were generally turned on but as much by women and old people as anyone else ... absolutely repugnant people.
Outside we found a stand off between a few hundred Sunderland and all the Millwall hooligans. We were behind Millwall and could've just slunk away but decided we'd throw our weight in with Sunderland so walked through their lot, got to the front and legged it across no-man's land towards our lads. They thought we were Millwall attacking them so we had to shout 'we're Sunderland' hoping they'd hear us. Thankfully some Peterlee lads, at the front, recognised us so we were safe.
I can't remember all of what happened but we eventually went with them towards the trains then branched off to where we'd parked. There were still loads hanging around throwing missiles at the police so we were glad to get the minibus fired up and out of Dodge. What a day, seemed to last a week
Our first trip to the Old Den was a year or so after there'd been a Panorama documentary about them and their tactics for ambushing away supporters. Very few clubs took many down there but we had approaching a thousand. We drove down and got to the area around the stadium to find there were TV cameras filming. The Millwall fans were, of course, acting up and performing like circus seals so we had a few confrontations before we even got in.
For some reason, which I don't remember, we ended up in the seats near the end we attacked in the second half. There were Sunderland all over the ground and fights breaking out everywhere particularly at half time. They never got the better of the lads in our end who were mainly Vauxies and Seaburn lads but it wasn't a pleasant experience.
We didn't particularly hide who we were, as the seats were generally safe in those days, but it all kicked off, in the second half, when Wayne Entwistle crashed in a goal, the only one of the game, and all the pockets of Sunderland went up. A few punches were thrown and we were generally turned on but as much by women and old people as anyone else ... absolutely repugnant people.
Outside we found a stand off between a few hundred Sunderland and all the Millwall hooligans. We were behind Millwall and could've just slunk away but decided we'd throw our weight in with Sunderland so walked through their lot, got to the front and legged it across no-man's land towards our lads. They thought we were Millwall attacking them so we had to shout 'we're Sunderland' hoping they'd hear us. Thankfully some Peterlee lads, at the front, recognised us so we were safe.
I can't remember all of what happened but we eventually went with them towards the trains then branched off to where we'd parked. There were still loads hanging around throwing missiles at the police so we were glad to get the minibus fired up and out of Dodge. What a day, seemed to last a week
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